Man jailed for threatening British Indian ex-minister

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LONDON: A 65-year-old man has been jailed for five months for mailing a threatening letter to former Home Secretary Priti Patel after admitting to sending a grossly offensive letter to the Indian-origin ex-minister at a hearing.

Pooneeraj Canakiah was sentenced by the Westminster Magistrates’ Court in London last week.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) in England said the letter, which was addressed to Patel and had the words “personal letter” handwritten upon it, was opened by a member of her staff on January 22 last year when she was still the Home Secretary. Patel did not see the letter personally, and forensic testing was used to trace the writer.